Dr. Wilmot James, “Battling Insecurity, Mistrust, and Disease: Are We Capable of Reigning in Epidemics in Complex Environments?”

Columbia University’s Visiting Professor of Political Science and Pediatrics Wilmot James presents his talk on the role of communities in responding to infectious diseases.

Professor James focused on three circumstances that poseparticular challenges for responders, governments and internationalorganizations trying to stop the spread of infectious diseases: when outbreaksoccur where government instability and conflict are prevalent such as in areasof war where weak health infrastructure undermines local and internationalresponse capability; in weak states with poor health leadership where communitiesare left to handle outbreaks on their own; and when emerging threats fromclimate change and biotechnology require critical attention from authorities  unprepared to manage their impact.